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Veirano's projects team is part of the firm's wider corporate offering.

Last year the firm secured a role on the largest project financing in the country acting for the construction companies including Andrade Gutierrez and Camargo Correa on the R$13.8 billion ($7.7 billion) financing for the Belo Monte hydropower plant, which when complete will be the third largest power plant in the world. Ana Carolina Barretto led the deal.

Another substantial deal saw Ricardo Veirano advise Odebrecht on the R$921.5 bank financing and R$1.1 billion debenture financing for the investment and exploration project Corredor Dom Pedro I in Sao Paolo.

Finally, the team also provided advise to DnB NOR on the loan agreement with Viken Shuttle for the $325 million financing of five DP 2 Aframax shuttle tankers.

Veirano's corporate team, which is led by Robson Goulart Barreto, was enhanced last year with the hire of Lior Pinsky and Carlos Alexandre Lobo from Pinheiro Neto.

The firm scored quite a coup last year as it acted for Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro on the acquisition of the aluminium business of mining firm Vale for $4.9 billion. Included in the deal were Vale's bauxite mining site, various mineral sites and a major slurry pipeline, in addition to the world's largest aluminium refinery. Partner Carlos Americo Ferraz e Castro led the deal which was Norsk's largest ever foreign investment.

In the pharmaceutical sector, the team acted for Farmácia Guarapes in its partial sale to BR Pharma, the pharamaceutical arm of BTG Pactual.

Name partner Ricardo Veirano was also active last year advising Camargo Corrêa in the sale of waste management companies Cavo Serviços e Saneamento and Logística Ambiental de São Paulo to Estre Ambiental and a fund managed by Banco Pactual.

With a staff of over 700 and offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Brasilia, Veirano is one of Brazil's largest law firms and has an association with Canadian firm Macleod Dixon.

Over the past year, the firm has expanded its capacity with the addition of several new partners. Carlos Alexandre Lobo, a former partner of Pinheiro Neto, and Lior Pinsky, a former senior associate there, joined Veirano as partners in January 2011 and October 2010 respectively. Project finance lawyer Ana Carolina Barretto, who coordinates the firm's infrastructure and natural resources practice group, was promoted to partner in January 2011.

In a large and complex deal, the firm advised Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro in the acquisition of the aluminum business of Brazilian mining giant Vale for $4.9 billion. The deal closed in February 2011.

The firm also acted as sole outside counsel to Brazilian construction companies in the negotiation of the R$13.8 billion ($8.4 billion) construction contract for the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, the largest civil construction project in Brazil. The firm advised Andrade Gutierrez, Camargo Correa, Norberto Odebrecht, OAS, Queiroz Galvão, Contern, Galvão Engenharia, Serveng-Civilsan, Cetenco and J Malucelli.